Chapter 13. The 1950s

New in season 1951-2 were Triangle, whose ground was actually up the hill in Norland at Longley Flatts, near what later became the Halifax Children’s Holiday Home, though after a couple of seasons it is the Norland name rather than Triangle that appears in the league tables. A team called King Cross appeared for three seasons in the mid-50s, playing their home matches at Roils Head, while in the younger age groups there were Stoney Lane Youth Club from Lightcliffe (who later changed their name to Brighouse), R.A.P.C. (Royal Army Pay Corps) and later Halifax Spartans and St Joseph’s Old Boys. St Joseph’s Catholic School had been winners of the Halifax Schools knock-out cup in the 1955 Thrum Hall final, those players becoming the basis of a team in the League for a short time. Out-of-town teams included Jack & Jill and Sedbergh Boys Club from Bradford in 1953, plus Keighley Albion and Queensbury, and later Victoria Park (Keighley).

Norland started out in 1952, based at Norland Working Men’s Club on Stormer Hill Lane, operating for three seasons. They withdrew from the league towards the end of the 1954-5 season, their results removed from the final table despite them having completed most of their fixtures.

Halifax Spartans were an Under 17 team who finished bottom of the league in 1957-8, but were presented with the league’s sportsmanship trophy. They were slightly more successful in 1958-9 but did not continue thereafter. Stainland Youth Club and Mixenden Youth Club were also there around this time, but Mixenden merged with Asquiths in 1956 and Stainland were gone after failing to complete their fixtures in season 1959-60. Queens Road Youth Club joined briefly in 1959.

In Mixenden the Youth Club team soon returned to action, winning the Under-17 championship in 1958-9. Their captain Colin Dean kicked 133 goals and scored 19 tries during that particular campaign. They withdrew in 1960, but by then there was a Mixenden team in the Under-19 league and soon also an open-age side.

Another successful junior team were St Malachy’s, connected with the Catholic church in Nursey Lane, who started out in 1957 and were members of the Under-19 and Under-17 divisions for some time, gaining their first trophy by beating neighbours Ovenden to win the Under -17 league final in season 1957-8. In 1959-60 both age-groups won their respective championships finals at Thrum Hall, the Under 17s beating Asquiths and the Under 19s accounting for Keighley Albion. Winger Phil Hudson became a Halifax RLFC signing in 1958. Despite their location they often played home matches at Roils Head.

However, the ones who began to lead the way were those who acquired their own grounds and were able to become clubs in the proper sense of the word rather than just fleeting teams.

The first was Greetland All-Rounders, who had moved from Moor Bottom to a field on Turbury Lane for season 1949-50, changing at The Sportsman, but craved somewhere of their own. A couple of moorland sites were viewed and measured, until news came that a farmer (James Normanton) had twelve acres of enclosed moorland that he was willing to lease at Spring Rock. It looked a monumental task to create a playing surface, for the land was covered not only in heather and scrub, but also rocks and stone. Despite a failed bid for a Rugby League grant to have the area prepared mechanically, the volunteers went ahead regardless. Rocks of anything up to 20 feet in length and varying widths and depths had to be cut and broken for wheeling off or filling holes and depressions. Blasting did not prove too successful, so a petrol drill was brought in. Some rocks were lifted with long iron bars and peeled down with a 22lb hammer, the holes they left being filled with 50 tons of soil. Thousands of man-hours and more than a year later, the field was ready to be ploughed and partially levelled. Fertilizing and sowing followed so that on Saturday 26th June 1954 the ground could finally be opened.

The pavilion followed – another huge effort. A grant from the RFL finally came through and a pair of semi-detached pre-fab bungalows at Ilkley were bought, dismantled and carted back to Spring Rock to create a 29ft x 50ft building with a gymnasium/social area, two changing rooms, bath and kitchen area. It was finally ready in 1962. Then a roadway was created from the main Rochdale Road, while an interest free loan from the RFL allowed the whole grounds to be purchased outright for £150.

Siddal and Ovenden, meanwhile, had become established at Chevinedge and Four Fields. Siddal in the 1950s had changing accommodation below the field in an old summerhouse which was once part of the zoo there, though in 1962 bought two former cottages on Backhold Lane to convert into a clubhouse with dressing rooms and a licensed bar, used until the new first-class facility was built beside the field, opened in 2015. They were not in the ‘50s the force they were to become, struggling so much for players in 1961 that their representative asked at a league meeting that any club with spare men should direct them their way to avoid them having to fold. But youngsters like John Martin, Mal Burks, Brian Probets and Paul Williams were soon to have them on the forward track.

Ovenden migrated to Four Fields in 1949, changing in a converted barn at Forest Cottage Community Centre and based at The Commercial Inn to start with then at The Ovenden Way Hotel, Wheatley Liberal Club and The Friendly Inn. It was to be the 1982 before a clubhouse was opened at Four Fields, built with money from Tetley’s Brewery and the Sports Council. Ovenden’s strong set-up included an Under-18 side that was almost unbeatable in the early-50s, including future stars in such as Jack Scroby, Alan Kellett, Dougie Langhorn and Graham Oddy, plus a couple who made it big in Rugby Union, Linford Tatham and Rodney Childs. A number of Halifax teams took part in the Bradford Under-18 Cup around this time; in 1953-4 Ovenden won it, beating Pellon in the final at Wyke, though the final had originally been scheduled as a curtain-raiser to the Bradford Northern v Halifax match at Odsal. They also won the Halifax Under-18 Championship that season. The open-age team in 1950-51 were unbeaten in league matches, scoring over 1,000 points during the season, and they too enjoyed a prolific era, winning a succession of cups and championships that would involve several finals in a short space of time at the end of most seasons.

Illingworth were a new club formed in 1961, playing for the first time in season 1961-2 on a sloping farmer’s field adjacent to Whitehill Road, with headquarters at The Junction Inn, Holmfield, and later the Swan, Talbot Inn and Commercial Inn. In 1968 they acquired a site from the local authority at Tar Hill, which they tried to level with soil dug out for the building of Abbey Park estate, but were still left with a 20-foot slope. Nevertheless they installed floodlighting and used two old air-raid shelters as changing rooms, enjoying considerable playing success in the late 1960s and early 1970s; they were good enough to reach BARLA’s first Yorkshire Cup Final in 1973-4, held at Thrum Hall. When later in the ‘70s Tar Hill was lost to a development scheme, they played on Savile Park for a time, until In 1982 were able to obtain the former Crossley’s Carpets Sports and Social Club and its various bowls, cricket and football pitches at Mason Green, to create an impressive new set-up. Brendan White and Brendan Finn were among their early star players, as were amateur international Gerry Slattery and later Great Britain star Stuart Fielden and the Wardle brothers, Joe and Jake.

While team like these thrived, others fell by the wayside. Sides from the post-war years who had now gone included Southowram (in 1952), Pellon (1957), Asquiths (1957) and Luddenden (1958), though both Asquiths and Luddenden continued with Under 17 and Under 19 sides into the ‘60s. A new Todmorden club also soon succumbed to financial difficulties in 1957. Boothtown had a team in the 1960s playing at Swales Moor, Ploughcroft, but withdrew in 1968 – Laurie Hinchliffe joined Bradford Northern from there in 1967.